Shangri-La

Now that you've found your paradise,
This is your kingdom to command.
You can go outside and polish your car,
Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la.

Here's your reward for working so hard.
Gone are the lavatories in the back yard.
Gone are the days when you dreamed of that car.
You just want to sit in your Shangri-la.

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire.
You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher.
You're in your place and you know where you are.
In your Shangri-la.

Sit back in your old rocking chair.
You need not worry, you need not care.
You can't go anywhere.
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la.

The little man who gets the train,
Got a mortgage hanging over his head.
But he's too scared to complain,
Cause he's conditioned that way.
Time goes by and he pays off his debts.
Got a TV set and a radio,
For seven shillings a week.
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la.

And all the houses in the street have got a name.
Cause all the houses in the street, they look the same.
Same chimney tops, same little cars, same window panes.
The neighbors call, and say "We think that you should know..."
They say their lines, they drink their tea, and then they go
They tell your business at another Shangri-la.
The gas bills, and the water rates, the papers on the car.
Too scared to think about how insecure you are.
Life being so happy in your little Shangri-la.

Shangri-la, Shangri-la, la la la la la la la la.

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire.
You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher.
You're in your place and you know where you are.
In your Shangri-la.

Sit back in your old rocking chair.
You need not worry, you need not care.
You can't go anywhere.
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la.

 

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Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire